Mountain storms cool down High Desert

Cliff Bandringa was shocked when he glanced out his bedroom window and saw what looked like a tornado spiraling down a couple thousand feet and stretching about as wide as a house.

"It did not look like a dust devil because I've seen plenty of those," said Bandringa, 46, of Spring Valley Lake. "A dust devil is usually brown and comes up from the ground, whereas this was gray and clearly coming down from a cloud."

Bandringa said he saw the tornado-like funnel spinning over north Hesperia somewhere near Eucalyptus and I Avenue at about 12:20 p.m. on Monday. The funnel lasted about five minutes before fading away, he said.

The National Weather Service did not spot any tornadoes in the area, as thunderstorms and showers in the San Bernardino mountains trickled down to parts of the High Desert on Monday.

The storms flooded two streets in Hesperia: The intersection of Main and Peach streets and portions of Rock Springs Road, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Stefanie Sullivan.

But Sullivan said most of the High Desert had nothing to report but heavy rain that subsided by late afternoon.

Victorville had its heaviest downpour at about 1:20 p.m., but no flooding was observed, she said.

It hadn't rained by early evening in Lucerne Valley, but weather spotter John Roork said between noon and 1 p.m. the temperature dropped from 99 degrees to 89 degrees.

"That means that upwind it was raining, so we got a little cool down — a nice cold breeze in 100-degree weather," Roork said.

Thunderstorms are expected to develop and isolated flash flooding is possible each afternoon and evening Thursday through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service alert. Weather reports for Wednesday are sunny with a high of 99 degrees.

There is a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms forming again today, along with southwest wind between 5 and 15 mph and gusts as high as 20 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Natasha Lindstrom may be reached at 951-6232 or nlindstrom@vvdailypress.com.